COCOA BEACH, Florida/USA (Sunday, March 11, 2017) – The World Surf League (WSL) crowned Josh Burke (BRB), Eithan Osborne (USA), and Kirra Pinkerton (USA) its respective winners on a beautiful Florida Sunday to end the men’s Qualifying Series (QS) Ron Jon Quiksilver Pro QS 1,000, Junior Pro, and women’s Roxy Junior Pro. Clean morning conditions provided enough scoring opportunity for the victors to get the job done over their fellow contingent in one-to-three-foot surf. It was an incredible finish to what is coming to be known as the best Cocoa Beach event — ever.

A long-awaited Finals appearance was accomplished by Burke and the Barbadian made his countrymen proud with a maiden QS victory. It was a special day for the 22-year-old, who found his rhythm early on against 2017 Ron Jon Quiksilver Junior Pro winner Ryland Rubens (USA) in the Semifinals. But, Burke saved his best for last and earned an 8.33 (out of a possible 10) to begin the Final against an in-form Colt Ward (USA) and didn’t stop pressing until the final horn sounded.

“I’m just so psyched to make the Finals and actually win, I don’t know this feeling because I’ve never had it before,” Burke said. “I’ve won a Pro Junior in the past, but this has been a goal of mine for a long time now to take out a QS. This definitely gives me some confidence and just hoping to keep this momentum going. I’ve got a third and first now so I just want to get keep getting these kind of results — I’m just so excited to be standing here right now with a win.”

Burke will now gear up for a big Caribbean leg that ends on his home shores at the Barbados Surf Pro QS 3,000 with this momentum pushing him forward.

“I’ll get home for a few days before going to Martinique for the QS 3,000 there and then back home for another 3,000,” Burke added. “These QS 1,000s are pretty hard with some of the surfers that come to do them like Evan [Geiselman] being here, who almost made the World Tour a couple of years. But, the 3,000s are another big step with a lot of great surfers so I’ll just focus on doing my best there.”

The Ron Jon Quiksilver Pro runner-up’s, Ward, Semifinal bout highlighted finals day as he eliminated defending event winner and East Coast’s most prominent QS force, Evan Geiselman (USA). The 20-year-old sat in second for nearly the entire heat until the three-minute mark delivered a forehand gem he was able to take full advantage of — earning an excellent 8.50 to take the win.

Unfortunately for the San Clemente, California, surfer, the ocean didn’t deliver the same last-minute opportunity and he finished just behind Burke in the Final.

“It’s great to finally get into a Final after really looking forward to that Semifinal with Evan [Geiselman] since I’ve never had a man-on-man heat with him,” Ward said. “He’s an amazing surfer and I was just super stoked to get that last opportunity, and couldn’t contain my excitement when I let out that claim just hearing some cheers on the beach. This is a great result moving forward and hopefully it’s the one that gets the ball rolling. I definitely feel like I worked on my heat strategies in this one and picked only the best waves, and I was just having fun all week without putting too much pressure on myself.”

An explosive Ron Jon Quiksilver Junior Pro Final witnessed even standouts go all out for 25 minutes and a battle for first raged between Osborne and eventual runner-up Tyler Gunter (USA). The two traded off near-perfect scores and excellent scores to back them up, but Osborne’s 9.77 bested Gunter’s 9.10. Taro Watanabe (USA) was able to break out of the combination situation, meaning he needed two new scores to equal Osborne’s, in the final minutes but it was too late as he moved above Bo Raynor (USA) for a third-place finish.

This incredible win marks Osborne’s first-ever WSL victory and puts his name at the top of North America Junior Tour rankings to start 2018 with even bigger goals in mind.

“That just feels so good, finally won one, and coming into my last year as junior I had to win one so it’s a great start,” Osborne said. “It just made my goal of the World Junior Championship that much more achievable and now I’m ready. That Final was just insane, we got so lucky with waves for it and Tyler [Gunter] got an eight, then I got an eight — then Tyler got a nine and I got a higher nine, it was crazy. To have a Final like that with one of my best friends is great.”

“It’s nowhere near over yet so I just need to keep my head down and power through the rest of these with similiar results,” Osborne. “I’ve made two Finals in Los Cabos so I’m already looking forward to that event as our next junior stop, but I’ll get some QS events done before then. This win definitely helps get my confidence going for the string of events coming up so I couldn’t be more excited.”

Conditions turned on at the start of the Ron Jon Roxy Junior Pro and Spencer’s reign over Cocoa Beach was ended by an unstoppable Pinkerton. The 15-year-old now has back-to-back North America Junior Tour wins after winning the Live Like Zander Pro Junior In Memory of Zander Venezia to finish 2017. A quick start from Spencer left the field scratching to fight back and Pinkerton did just that — earning a 7.17 on her first wave and backing that up with an impressive 8.57. Eva Woodland (CRI), third-place ,and Tiare Thompson (USA), fourth-place, are off to their best starts on the Junior Tour. after a great showing

Pinkerton’s win puts her at No. 1 on the rankings for the first time as the Californian duo start 2018 in terrific fashion.

“It’s kind of unbelievable to get that win because I didn’t expect it at all and I’m just so happy to start the year off right,” Pinkerton said. “The waves are tough here, but if you can get into the good ones you can really get some turns in. [Coming from Australia just before this one] the waves were literally flat over there so I was able to get some training on the board I was riding today. Alyssa [Spencer] got that 8.50 to start and I thought, ‘No!” All I was thinking was that I needed to find the wave.”

“But, my head calmed a little bit after getting that 7.17 and then got a little rattled when she backed it up so I went over to a different spot,” Pinkerton said. “I didn’t really see any waves coming there, but it felt right and I got that double-up to really do some turns. My original goal was to make it to Worlds, but now that I’ve won this one, my goal is to win all the events this year.”

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About WSL
The World Surf League (WSL) is dedicated to celebrating the world’s best surfing on the world’s best waves through a variety of best-in-class audience platforms. The League, headquartered in Santa Monica, is a global sport with regional offices in Australasia, Africa, North America, South America, Hawaii, Japan and Europe.The WSL has been championing the world’s best surfing since 1976, annually running in excess of 180 global events across the Men’s and Women’s Championship Tours, the Big Wave Tour, Qualifying Series, Junior and Longboard Championships, as well as the WSL Big Wave Awards. The League possesses a deep appreciation for the sport’s rich heritage while promoting progression, innovation and performance at the highest levels, and in doing so crowns the undisputed world champions in Men’s, Women’s across all divisions within the tour.

Showcasing the world’s best surfing on its digital platform at WorldSurfLeague.com as well as the free WSL app, the WSL has a passionate global fan base with millions tuning in to see world-class athletes like Tyler Wright, John John Florence, Paige Alms, Kai Lenny, Taylor Jensen, Honolua Blomfield, Mick Fanning, Stephanie Gilmore, Kelly Slater, Carissa Moore, Gabriel Medina, Courtney Conlogue and more battle on the most unpredictable and dynamic field of play of any sport in the world.